Acceptance
by Wicked Child
Summary: He is dead and there is a funeral but few tears. There is also acceptance and a small, ever so small dash of hope. [One Shot]


**Disclaimer:** I don't own them so leave me alone.

**AN:** I don't know where this came from but here it is. It probably isn't very good but that hasn't stopped me before. Originally written in 2003.

**Acceptance**

by Wicked Child

She sat alone, rain pouring down around her, soaking the expensive business suit bought specifically for this occasion. She didn't care. The suit's purpose had been completed and now it meant nothing to her. Her blue eyes watched as Preventer after Preventer came by to pay last respects for a man hardly any of them knew. Hell, she didn't even know him and they were brother and sister.

Milliardo Peacecraft had died only a week and a half before during a "routine" Preventer operation. Her brother had met his end because of an old trigger happy man who couldn't tell good from bad despite the fact that no "bad" men were present.

She shook her head. In truth she didn't know how she felt. She looked over and saw Noin, crying unabashedly against Une's shoulder. Noin had been deeply in love with Milliardo and had even told him so. His response? Well little sister was never sure but she knew that he had never responded in kind.

She smirked in spite of herself. The two of them were so much alike. No wonder they had fought so hard and diligently against one another with neither proving the victor. In the end it was Milliardo who conceded "defeat" and joined forces with his one time enemy.

Her eyes turned to that enemy and saw him staring intently at her. At one time in her life the eye contact would have sent her stomach turning this way and that in excitement. How she thought she had loved him but no longer. He was a Preventer, sometimes bodyguard, and distant friend. No longer did her world revolve around him. Those times were over. Childhood had finally been forsaken.

She looked away, knowing that he would still obey her and not come near. She no longer desired his presence as she once did. Abandonment seemed to be her only companion. A solitary life seemed to be what her future held and all in all she didn't mind. Not one bit.

The rain continued to pour as she saw Une be forced to take the sobbing Noin away. With their departure, the others began leaving as well. Duo and Hilde took separate cars. She shook her head. The two still had not made peace with one another and this time it was not Duo's fault. Quatre escorted Sally to a vehicle before returning to collect Dorothy. The two young women locked eyes, words unspoken but understood all the same.

If she had a best friend, she would have to admit that Dorothy fit that role. Pagan began to approach her but stopped when she raised her hand. She waved at him to go without her and despite his fatherly instinct she too knew that he would obey. She was currently happy in her rain soaked solitary confinement. She needed to be alone. She wanted to be alone. She was happy alone.

"You'll catch a cold if you stay out here long enough," a man said from behind.

"That should make you happy then. If I get sick enough and die you wouldn't have to swallow the crap I feed to the rest of the universe," she responded.

The man snorted before squatting next to her. "I don't want you to die Dorlian."

She never removed her eyes from the now abandoned casket where her brother lay. "What do you want?"

"If I knew the answer to that, I would not be here."

She nodded, understanding. The two stayed there, silent for untold minutes. She watched the rain pound against Milliardo's casket while he watched it caress the leaves and branches surrounding them.

"Are you going back to the office?"

He shook his head. "Due to my relationship with Mr. Peacecraft I have been given time off."

Again she nodded in understanding. She was surprised she hadn't shooed him away just yet. Normally she didn't want to be near him and vice versa. But she found his company strangely comforting. All the same, she knew that if he were not present she wouldn't feel any different.

"Are you heading back to the manor or going to your office?" he questioned.

"I've been ordered to take a leave of absence by the President. He doesn't care how long so long as it's no shorter than two weeks."

He nodded. "Are you going back to the manor then?"

"Why should I? There is nothing there for me except false sympathy for a man I barely knew. Noin deserves much more sympathy than I for loving a man like him."

"She's getting her share."

The two settled into silence again when she realized she couldn't feel her fingers any longer. They were too numb from the cold so she began flexing them, trying to get more circulation. He noticed this and handed her a pair of leather gloves.

"Use these. They'll help keep your hands warm."

She took the gloves but her fingers wouldn't obey her, they were far too numb. He took her hands in his and began rubbing them together. He silently marveled at their delicate shape and structure.

"Thank you. I think I can get the gloves on now."

Instead of letting her work the gloves on her own, he placed them over her delicate hands like a father to a child.

"Won't your hands get cold? Or are Gundam Pilot's turned Preventer agents immune to the cold?"

He smiled a small, thin smile. "I have another pair with me."

"Ah."

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

She shrugged. "A lot things. Nothing at all."

"I hate it when that happens."

She smiled. "I find it hard to believe that you would think of nothing on purpose."

He narrowed his eyes as they focused on the casket yards away. "I do. Trust me I do."

She looked at him for the first time that day, interest piqued. "Please, tell me."

He looked at her a moment before turning his gaze back to the casket. "Late at night, when the world is still sleeping I hear the screams. I hear her scream and I can't make it stop. That's when I try my damnedest to think of nothing."

She didn't know who the woman was he referred to but she didn't dare ask.

"And you Foreign Minister?"

"I'm just accepting right now."

"Of his death?" he asked in reference to the casket.

"No. Milliardo Peacecraft died so many years ago. I just called him that name because he was born with it. He never lived the name. Not once. Rather he ran from it."

"So what are you accepting?"

"That my life is to be one lived alone. Death surrounds me at every turn. A solitary existence is the path before me and I have accepted."

"Accepted or chosen? Death surrounds everyone Relena. You, me, the child down the street. No one can escape it. To live is to die."

"From the moment of conception, we begin our slow transcendence into death."

"We do."

"I do not mourn him."

"Nor do I."

"Why don't you?" she asked.

"There is nothing for me to mourn. He lived his life. He lived a rather full life if not the fullest life he could live. A home and family were not his destiny. It isn't many people's destiny. But he lived his life the way he was meant to and for that reason I do not mourn."

Again she simply nodded, letting the words sink in and flow around her.

"I don't know why I do not mourn him. He was my brother but I did not love him as I should have. He's helped many people in his own way but I am not grateful to him in the least. He did live his life the way he could but I am not satisfied. He is now dead and I do not mourn nor am I sad. Why?"

He could not answer her. It was for her to find the answer and the truth in her own question.

A few more moments of silence passed before he stood, holding a hand out to her. She took it and stood. Her hands were beginning to warm up again.

"Let's go. You'll catch a cold and I'll be forced to take care of you."

"I certainly wouldn't want that to happen."

He led her to the street where is motorcycle waited. He opened the seat and pulled out another helmet and a pair of gloves. He handed her the second helmet.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked.

"Away."

"Where is this placed you call Away?"

He smiled. "A secret place. One in which I find the most comfort. Will you come with me?"

She looked around and saw the tombstones covering the rolling hills. From the street she couldn't see her brother's casket. She was grateful for that. She looked back at the man waiting for her answer.

She smiled and pulled the helmet over her rain soaked head. "I couldn't think of any better place to be Wufei."

The two mounted the motorcycle and drove out of the cemetery.


End file.
